Morvern Callar - Alan Warner
Morvern Callar arrives home to find her boyfriend dead on the floor. She grieves by getting mortal on nights out, shifts at the supermarket, Krautrock mixtapes and sunbathing in Spain.
“The revolution starts in the ATOS smoking area” - on welfare, addiction, and dependency
Submitted by Ramona on Apr 2 2013 19:00
A blog about welfare reform from a social care worker's perspective, and the creation of the "welfare addict" as a recession-era scapegoat. Inspired largely by today's Novara show, and the people I work with.
I've got a personal grudge against a colleague of mine. I know this is bad for workplace solidarity. A month ago I sat in the office filling out a service user's DLA1
- 1. Disability Living Allowance – a non-means-tested benefit intended to cover the additional costs of having long term care or mobility needs.
Beating the poll tax - Anarchist Communist Federation
Beating the Poll Tax was a widely distributed booklet that encouraged and analysed the rise of mass revolt against the Community Charge in 1989/90 as it was happening.
It was first published by the Anarchist Communist Federation in March 1990 under the Tories, following 'The Poll Tax and How to Fight It' in October 1988. Scanned in and published online for the first time on the Anarchist Federation website in March 2006.
BEATING THE POLL TAX
Some quick thoughts on Scottish independence
Submitted by Phil on Jun 20 2012 21:14
For most people outside Scotland, myself included, the debate over Scottish independence has been largely peripheral. I've come across it occasionally, but bigger things have always taken my attention and I've only found myself discussing it in depth when with comrades from Scotland. This is perhaps a mistake, since the vote in 2014 will have ramifications for both Scotland and the rest of the UK, and there is a marked lack of libertarian communist analysis on the issue.
Referendums aren't great, liberating acts of direct democracy. They offer us no revolutionary change and the debate around the question is framed by various sections of the ruling class. This is as true for the independence referendum as for any other - the options on the table being four variations between the status quo and full independence for Scotland.
Agrarian class structure and economic development in pre-industrial Europe - Robert Brenner
Submitted by Joseph Kay on May 9 2012 07:14
Robert Brenner's influential essay on the origins of capitalism, arguing that the balance of class forces in the countryside was crucial to the rise and dominance of capitalist wage labour relations.
General interpretations of the processes of long-term economic change in late medieval and early modern Europe have continued to be constructed almost exclusively in terms of what might loosely be called "objective" economic forces, in particular demographic fluctuations and the growth of trade and markets. A variety of models have been constructed centring on these forces.
The day we took the white tower
Submitted by T La Palli on May 7 2012 13:24
Account the occupation of Accountants Price Waterhouse offices in Glasgow in support of the South Wales Miners.
At 7:30 am on Tuesday, 4th September, 1984, 12 anarchists stormed a multi-story office block in Glasgow city centre. They went in to occupy the headquarters of Accountants Price Waterhouse, the millionaire outfit which sequestrated the South Wales Miners' Funds. As the newspapers reported, the operation was executed with military precision.
Independent and free? A Glasgow anarchist's take on Scottish independence
Submitted by doug on Apr 14 2012 12:09
Written by a member of the Glasgow Anarchist Federation in a personal capacity, this article aims to respond to the rise of the Scottish independence movement and to encourage a libertarian socialist critique.
One way or another, the political landscape in Scotland and Britain as a whole is going to change after 2014 and it’s difficult to say what course this will take. Although polls consistently show the SNP-led Scottish Government has a long way to gain majority support for independence, it’s quite possible that they could bring about a swing in opinion.
Victory in less than a week for newly reformed Glasgow Solidarity Network
Submitted by doug on Feb 10 2012 11:20
Collective direct action against a letting agent succeeds in the full refund of an illegal administration fee.
Glasgow Solidarity Network has demonstrated how direct action gets the goods with a successful conclusion to its first fight.
McAra, John, c.1870-1915
Submitted by Battlescarred on Feb 1 2012 10:26
A short biography of John McAra, Scottish anarchist orator.
“John McAra was the most persistent outdoor speaker in the Anarchist movement in Scotland, and as a literature seller had no equal.” Obituary in Freedom, 1915.
Don’t you f*****g threaten me Francis Maude
Submitted by working class s... on Nov 20 2011 18:00
I am getting a bit sick of Francis Maude continually making not so 'thinly veiled' threats against the working class.
Francis Maude is a revolting man. I loathe him with every ounce of my being. He seems to be hell bent on becoming the most hated man in Britain.
Whilst preaching to the unions about the importance of on-going negotiation and saying we have shared interests, all in it together, and all that other bullshit. He then constantly keeps goading and making threats to the working class.
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